Liz’s POV
We stepped out onto the porch, and Arthur turned to face my family.
“The next time I see you,” he said, his voice steady but filled with something that wrapped around my heart, “your daughter will be standing beside me.”
Arthur looked at me then, eyes locked on mine.
“She’ll be in her body. Alive and Breathing. For the whole world to see. I swear it to you.”
Carlos stepped down onto the porch beside us. He didn’t say anything, just nodded once, like it was all he could manage. My mother clutched my father’s arm, tears streaking silently down her cheeks. And for once, he didn’t try to stop them. He didn’t try to be strong. He just pulled her closer.
None of them said goodbye.
They didn’t need to.
I watched them as we stepped off the porch, every part of me trembling. From the weight of what had just happened. From the hope that had been stirred in their eyes. From the fear that it might all fall apart again.
But something had shifted.
Something real.
Arthur didn’t let go of
